RESEARCH TASK
Read ‘Rhetoric of the Image’ by Roland Barthes in your course reader. (Boothroyd, 2020:32)
On rereading this text, I was reminded of, and compiled a summary of the text from previous readings:
Roland Barthes (1915–80) was the father of semiotics in the world of photography. Semiotics is the study of signs and language and through this Barthes provided us with terms and tools that can be helpful in interpreting photographs. In ‘Rhetoric of the Image’ (1964) the French literary theorist Barthes analyses an advertising text and then looks at how signs within it covey different messages.
Semiotics can be known as the ‘science of signs’. A semiotic analysis of an image quantifies how the meaning or message is constructed or communicated:
He identifies 3 different types of messages:
- The linguistic message: The text -denoted (captions and labels) and connoted (inferred).
- The literal message: Dennoted – this is obvious and uncoded message.
- The symbolic coded message: Connoted by signifiers and the signified.
Sign is the first level of meaning, comprised of a signifier and a signified – or a denoted object (the actual thing depicted) and the connoted message (what the thing depicted communicates).
Myth is the second level of meaning, it considers the viewer’s existing contextual knowledge that informs a reading of the image. Though myth is not directly referred to in the essay Barthes refers to cultural stereo types and assumptions.
The denotation of an image helps to define the coded messages within an image, although the reading of an image is dependent on the viewer’s cultural background. The signifiers are the connotators; Barthes calls the connotators a rhetoric and says, “it is precisely the syntagm of the denoted message which naturalises the system of the connotated message” (Barthes, 1977: p51)
For Barthes the photograph is a sign that is made up of a signifier and a signified
Signs, signifier, signified: SIGN = SIGNIFIER + SIGNIFIED, In semiotic terms:
- SIGNIFIER = the actual picture, its formal and conceptual elements
- SIGNIFIED = what we think of when we see the picture. This could be very straightforward, for example a picture of a dog signifying ‘dogness’. Or it could be metaphorical or conceptual, for example a crown signifying royalty or the union flag signifying Britishness.
- SIGN = the overall effect of a photograph
The image above presented in the essay is read as an advert. The fact that the context is a magazine, and the pictorial emphasis on the product labels, influence how the overall picture is read. These signs are taken in together, Although the landscape doesn’t feature in this advert, it refers to the bounty of the countryside.
Denotation and connotation -We can interpret a photograph on two different levels:
• Denotation is an objective approach in line with ‘translation’ – looking at the elements present in the image. What’s there?
• Connotation is more in line with ‘interpretation’ and is to some extent subjective. What do the elements mean (or connote)?
Punctum and studium
- Studium is the term Barthes uses to the photograph’s cultural, political or social meaning.
- Punctum is an element within the picture that disrupts the rest of the narrative. It punctures the meaning and takes it off on a different tangent.
Barthes suggests that the linguistic message has 2 functions:
- Anchorage: This is where images can be ascribed various meanings and the text is used to focus the viewer on a particular meaning. Barthes defines anchorage as directional titles that pin down their meaning, e.g., news photographs, Advertisements
- Relay: Here the text and image work together and the text adds meaning. He defines relay as when the image and text combine together to give meaning. E.g., Comic strips, graphic novels and films.
Intertextuality
Barthes talks about the rich tapestry of meaning. – summed up by his term ‘intertextuality’. Each person comes with their own background, education, and experiences and all of these things contribute to how they interpret life and events. When interpreting photographs, it’s also good to draw on other readings, pictures, paintings and experiences you’ve had in order to bring the photograph to life even more.
It is also suggested I our course reader that we read Chandler’s book Semiotics: The basics (2002). Here Chandler explains that the semiotic idea of intertextuality is mainly associated with post structuralist theorists. Chandler writes that the semiotic idea of intertextuality was introduced by Kristeva, and it refers to links relationship between texts. He refers to two axes of shared codes, 1) connecting author and the reader of the text 2) connecting the text to other texts. Meaning is not transferred directly from writer to reader but is actually mediated through, or filtered by, “codes” picked up by the writer and reader from other texts.
Chandler explains that intertextuality refers to more than the influences of writers on each other and the subjective power of language. Barthes in Image-Music-Text says that “it is language which speaks, not the author; to write is …to reach the point where only language acts, “performs”, and not “me” (Barthes, 1977:143). Chandler underlines that when writing we are using existing concepts and conventions and therefore writing can’t be confined to the author’s intentions; we may actually communicate things that we are unaware of. Intertextuality takes account of more than is within the frame of an image.
The concept of intertextuality became common for the textual theories of postmodernism, where interaction between the text and sign context is fundamental condition for making meaning. Intertextuality is the influence of other texts that add layers of meaning to images.
We are asked, is there an example of imagery within your work that features signs that can be interpreted in different ways by different viewers? Post an annotated example of your intertextual analysis to your learning log. (Boothroyd, 2015:32)
At the first level of Barthe’s meaning, the linguistic, the text accompanying this image tells a viewer that there are cylinders behind glass. The literal message is that the white cylinders are arranged in a pyramid shape behind textured glass, set in a white frame; the glass is probably a window and part of a building.
There is no external context for this image, but the denoted elements above may be translated by using the connotators, the signifiers. There are no obvious handles on the cylinders, which otherwise could signify they are mugs. In this case the textured glass might signify that this is a room which needs some privacy.
Contextual knowledge, myth may lead some viewers to the idea that this is a bathroom window, and therefore that the objects behind the glass are in fact toilet rolls. Equally another’s experience may lead them to believe that these are actually till rolls in a pyramid. I would suggest that within our culture the way that these cylinders are neatly arranged they would be more likely to be toilet rolls.
The semiotic significance of these white cylinders was grounded in the shortage of toilet rolls at the beginning of the covid 19 pandemic, but without this context, it loses this meaning.
References:
Barthes, Roland (1977). Rhetoric of the image, music text. London: Fontana Press.
Boothroyd, S (2020) Photography 3: Body of work coursebook. Open College of the Arts. Barnsley.
Chandler, D. and Dr, D. C. (2002) Semiotics: The Basics. (s.l.): Routledge.
Kristeva, J (1980) Desire in language: A semiotic approach to literature and art. New York: Columbia University Press. Cited in Chandler, D. and Dr, D. C. (2002) Semiotics: The Basics. (s.l.): Routledge, pp 230.
Roland, B. (1977) ‘Image -Music-Text”. Cited in Chandler, D. and Dr, D. C. (2002) Semiotics: The Basics. (s.l.): Routledge, p 196.
NIKI SOUTH 